Sweepers for cleaning streets and large areas, generally known as industrial-type sweepers or riding sweepers are well known in the art. Such sweepers generally use an elongated, cylindrical brush that rotates about its longitudinal axis. The brush includes rows of bristles for sweeping encountered debris into a hopper of the sweeper. Typically, the brush is mounted towards the front of the sweeper and rotates such that the bristles contact the surface to be swept in a direction opposite to the direction of sweeper travel. This throws the dirt and debris into a hopper portion integral with the sweeper housing.
The brush is also removable from its housing as use wears down the bristles. At the point of wear it is necessary to either replace the old brush with a new brush, or turn the old brush around such that its bristles will become worn from the opposite side.
In U.S. Pat. No. 3,284,830 issued to Kroll on Feb. 8, 1966 discloses a drive hub mounted to a door in the sweeper frame. When the door is opened, the brush is no longer supported by the hub. Thus the brush must somehow be realigned with the hub upon closing the door, since the hub is integral with the door.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,624,861 issued to Freiheit on Dec. 7, 1971 discloses a floor scrubber that has a changeable brush. The brush is housed within the scrubber unit. One side of the brush is retained by a pivoting arm and latch mechanism. While the pivot point is disposed radially behind the brush, the pivot point is in the same plane as the end face of the brush.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,979,789 issued to Peabody on Sep. 14, 1976 discloses a small sweeper with a cylindrical brush rotatably mounted between two arms that depend from opposite ends of a torsionally stiff transverse member. One of the two arms is formed from a flexible metal that extends from the transverse member and curves around the brush to retain an end of the brush. Mere hand pressure applied against the flexible arm will release the arm from the brush. In this manner the brush may be changed. However, such an arrangement is only suitable for light duty sweepers where a brush arm that is light enough to be sprung by hand is strong enough to retain the light duty brush.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,926,517 issued to Smith on May 22, 1990 is directed toward a sweeper that utilizes a cylindrical brush. One end of the brush is held by a pivoting arm. A hydraulic unit is attached to the end of the pivoting arm remote from the brush. The hydraulic unit retains the arm against the end of the brush and uncouples the same arm from the brush for changing the brush. Again, however, while the pivot is disposed radially behind the brush, the pivot is in the same plane as the end face of the brush.
In U.S. Pat. No. 5,231,725 issued to Hennessey et al. on Aug. 3, 1993, one of the arms, the idler arm, is completely detachable from the torsionally stiff transverse member through a latch mechanism. Therefore, each time the arm is removed, it is necessary to realign the brush and the arm before connection.
The prior art is replete with various brush holding mechanisms that permit brush change. However, these mechanisms are either unsuitable for such large industrial type sweepers and associated brushes, or are cumbersome in their operation or structure.
It is thus an object of the present invention to provide a brush retaining mechanism for an industrial sweeper that allows easy access to the brush in order to change or rotate the brush.
It is another object of the present invention to provide a brush retaining mechanism that permits quick alignment of the brush to the retaining mechanism.
It is yet another object of the present invention to provide a brush retaining mechanism that is not detachable from the sweeper.